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Object Of The Week : C : Canterbury House

Intro – Whilst the Museum is closed and our collections unable to be seen by visitors, we have created a weekly virtual museum with an Object of the Week feature from our collections.

Object C : Canterbury House

This is a painting of Canterbury House from Brook Road, overlooking the lake. The painting was donated to the Museum by Bushey Museum and Art Gallery.

Building work on this distinctive block of flats in Stratfield Road began in October 1966. At 18 floors and 55 metres high, it is the tallest building in Borehamwood.

The block was refurbished between 2004-2006 and a commemorative plaque was erected acknowledging the building as the location site of some scenes from A Clockwork Orange; the controversial Stanley Kubrick film of 1971.

In the film, one of the flats at the top of Canterbury House was used as the interior of character Alex’s apartment. The fictional address was Municipal Flat, Block 18A, Linear North. The couple who lived in the flat were temporarily moved out and £5k was spent on redecoration for the scenes. When filming was over and the couple re-instated in their own home, Kubrick moved them out again to re-shoot a couple of close-ups!

As an aside, the set of the Korova Milk Bar was constructed in a disused factory which stood where the current Shell Petrol Station is now on the corner of Bullhead Rd.

This is not the only accolade for Canterbury House; the block has also featured in On The Buses and in EastEnders where it was home to the Beale Family, including the young Ian Beale. And has been seen over the closing credits of many a Holby City which is filmed nearby.